Air – ABC Film Challenge – Catch-Up 2023 – A – Air – Movie Review
Director: Ben Affleck
Writer: Alex Convery (Screenplay)
Cast
- Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting)
- Jason Bateman (Juno)
- Ben Affleck (Argo)
- Chris Messina (Gaslit)
- Viola Davis (Fences)
Plot: Follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan.
Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Air starts as Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) has been struggling to talk basketball players into wearing Nike trainers. Meanwhile, Nike’s CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) is expecting answers despite reducing the budget. Sonny isn’t going to go out without a fight and wants to bring Nike a premium athlete.
This sees Sonny wanting to take the full budget and place it on a young player Michael Jordan (Young). Now, Sonny puts his whole reputation on the line to sign the young player that could make the company millions.
Verdict on Air
Air is a drama following the team that put together the plan to sign Michael Jordan to Nike. It follows the mastermind who wants to risk everything on one player, in a bid to put them above the competitors. This sees him looking to make a difference and challenge his boss, in what became the most famous deal in sporting history.
The movie does an excellent job of showing the difficult deal put together for Michael Jordan’s signature. It follows the behind-the-scenes arguments about whether they can or can’t go forward with the deal. There is a massive risk-reward discussion about the deal and if it hadn’t worked, we would have a very different movie.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon team up to give us yet another brilliant movie with the pair working together. Viola Davis and Julius Tennon are fantastic as Michael’s parents. Davis shows a colder determination to get the right deal, while Tennon shows pure joy in his son’s career. Elsewhere, the whole cast is fantastic in this movie.
Final Thoughts –Air is one of the best movies of the year.
